1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to computer systems, and more particularly to input mechanisms for converting phonetic language text, such as Pinyin, into written language text, such as Chinese language text.
2. Description of the Related Art
Pinyin, ( Pinyin) means “join sounds”, or “phoneticize”, in Chinese, and typically refers to Hànyû Pīnyīn (, or “Han language Pinyin”). Pinyin is a system for the Romanization (the phonetic notation and transliteration to written text using the roman alphabet characters a through z) for Standard Mandarin Chinese. Another form of Pinyin is Tongyong Pinyin, which is similar to Hànyû Pīnyīn with changes for certain sounds. Similar systems have been developed for Chinese dialects and minority languages. Cantonese also has a Pinyin-type system called Penkyamp, or Cantonese Pinyin.
Pinyin has been adapted as a system for entering Chinese language text into computers. Various Pinyin Input Methods (PIMs) have been developed that assist the user in converting inputted Pinyin strings into Chinese character strings. Conventional PIMs may require the user to select the intended conversion result word by word. A problem that conventional PIMs face is that there may be many Chinese character candidates for a single Pinyin syllable, as well as many word candidates for a Pinyin syllable sequence. Thus, if the PIM displays a list of determined candidate characters or words for Pinyin input, the displayed list may not order the candidates so that the candidate(s) that the user actually wants as output text is “first” on the list or at least high on the list, and thus easily selectable. In other words, the conversion precision tends to be low. This may require more effort by the user to locate and select the desired output text (word or character) for the Pinyin input text.